A week in Quebec in Ontario during July was not exactly a holiday. Taking along 91-yr-old and 82-yr-old travelling companions is quite a challenge! It would have been a disaster if Lew had not been able to go along. The flights there were fine, and the hosts on WestJet did everything they could to help, provide wheelchairs, and generally move us all about without confusion. We arrived in Montreal on the evening of the 12th and were greeted with fresh leek soup and homemade bread at the home of Phyl's kids, Leslie and Trevor. They had borrowed enough beds from friends to fill the "spare" bedrooms in their 6-bedroom house, so everyone had a nice comfortable place to sleep.
There is something about the 13th, though! Sunday the 13th was a disaster. Auntie woke up feeling not at all well. It was our hope that some breakfast might help her, but she couldn't eat and just pushed the food around her plate. She wanted to go back to bed, so Phyllis started helping her back when she collapsed in Phyl's arms. Trevor bodily picked her up and put her on the couch where she gradually came back to awareness. Lew and Trev forced her to drink some sports drink and eat an energy bar in the hopes she would perk up. She never really perked up, but soon after "coming to" she had some major bowel eruptions and caused everyone to pinch their noses. It was an inopportune time for her to be sick since Trev's birthday was the next day, and Lew's the day after and we had a bunch company coming for Sunday dinner and celebrations.
Here we were one day into our "holiday" and our prime reunion candidate had us guessing as to whether she was going to live! We got her back upstairs to bed, filled with Gastrolyte and Emodium, and she finally settled down around midnight. The next day there was nothing planned, so we could look forward to working on her recovery.
Well, Monday morning she got up and dressed herself, ate a bowl of porridge and a slice of toast and had three cups of coffee! However, the bowels were still pretty scary. She decided she wanted to go with the rest of us for a drive, so Leslie drove us all around the area of Hudson, Quebec. It is a lovely suburb of Montreal, about twenty miles South of the Island of Montreal. All the houses are huge, as it used to be a somewhat elite WASP neighborhood where the horse-loving people had small acreages. So it is well treed, and everything was growing lush and beautiful. We got back home to Leslie's safely. Trev was working late, so we left Auntie at home in front of the TV while the rest of us went to a little upscale restaurant for dinner. It was fine, but very expensive for the little that we got. However, there was enough in the seafood to make Ella get sick to her stomach that night. Fortunately it was only a brief illness and she was fine.
Tuesday Leslie was to drive us to Ottawa where we would rent a car, stay with Phyl's cousin, then on Wednesday drive some seven hours through Ontario to Elmvale (near Barrie) where the reunion was to be held. Still afraid of Auntie's eruptions, Phyl and Leslie went to a pharmacist to see what else could be done. The answer was to keep her on Emodium and give her lots to drink. When we got back to the house, Lew and Ella were in a panic. Auntie had gone to the washroom and was passing blood! So in order to get any kind of response, Phyl called 911 and told the operator we needed an ambulance--even though we knew this wasn't really the case. The firemen arrived and took all Auntie's vitals. She was perfectly okay and quite indignant that we would have taken such extreme measures. However, it was the quickest way to get medical attention, as the firemen called the ambulance and told them not to attend, and also called the medical clinic and told them we were bringing Auntie in immediately. Nothing like overkill to get a response!
Long story short, Auntie had only had a hemmeroid. The doctor gave her a clean bill and told us to feed her yogurt (which would build up the 'good' bacteria in her system), and Metamucil to bind the contents of her bowels. Incidentally, that was the best advice we could have had.
Needless to say it was too late in the day to travel to Ottawa. We decided that rather than push our luck any further we had best just book a flight from Montreal to Toronto, rent the car there and drive the hour and a half to the reunion. So we stayed another night in Montreal and landed in Toronto at noon the next day.
Auntie pulled herself together and was able to partake of almost all the festivities at the reunion. She really doesn't remember very much of all that happened, but at the time she enjoyed visiting with all her nieces and nephews, sisters-in-law and cousins. She and Ella stayed with their two sisters-in-law (aged 88 and 84) and everyone survived.
Lew and Phyl spent the evenings with Phyl's brother and his family at their cabin near Orillia. It was hot and humid and rained almost every night. However, the days were nice. One day we took an open boat tour of the Georgian Bay. The next we took a bus tour of Wasaga Beach, Minesing and surrounding area. This was the part of Ontario where Phyl's mother's family originated and is also the same area where Lew's grandmother's parents originated. In fact, in the graveyard in Minesing, we found the graves of Edward and Sarah Lewis--now we are trying to track down the possibility that they may be great-great-grandparents of Lew. Good grief, maybe Lew and Phyl are actually related four or five generations back!
We arrived safely home on Sunday the 20th. Everyone was pretty exhausted. Auntie and Ella just flopped into bed and slept soundly. Lew and Phyl were more emotionally exhausted than physically. It was just nice to have everyone back alive! And Melissa, the cat, was glad to have her humans back.
The next day was supposed to be a day of rest, but the garden had different ideas! The peas were in full production, the beans needed picking. The rhubarb was on another spurt, and the Swiss Chard was getting out of hand. So were the lawn and the weeds. However, the flowers were absolutely glorious. All the pictures are on Lew's computer, and this blog is coming from Phyl's, but we shall send along a few just to prove that we CAN grow things here on the prairies!
On Tuesday, the 22nd, Phyl went off to work. Lew drove to Edmonton to see the specialiast (the same one he had seen in November). The oncologist here had decided NOT to do any radiation until this consultation. So Dr. Paul Paul spent about 3/4 hour with Lew. He agrees that radiation would ultimately be very likely to destroy nerve tissue and render Lew's left arm useless or at least very painful. So he and Dr. Olson (a plastic surgeon with a specialty in nerve reconstruction) will operate. They will remove 7 cm. of the collar bone, then go into the top of the tumor and pick out as much as they can. Their focus will be on removing the tumor from around the nerve endings. If, when they get in there, they can remove most or all of the tumor they will. However, until they open up the site they can't determine how extensive an eradication they can do. There is still a 20% chance of doing nerve damage, but we are banking on the 80%. Once the 4 1/2 hour operation is completed, Lew will likely be in a partial body cast while the bone and muscle heal. Then there will be the possibility of radiation and some extensive physio therapy. The best case scenario is that he will be able to regain all the use of the arm, and that the tumor will be completely removed. Although we aren't really the praying kind, we certainly have sent some requests to whatever Higher Power there is.
Surgery will hopefully take place in the first week of September. We are waiting for the letter that gives us the date. Since Lew's health is a priority, Phyl has opted out of the proposed acting role that was to also take place the first week of September.
Lew has been busy rebuilding the trailer, hoping to have it completed before surgery. Phyl keeps busy picking and canning. The Saskatoon berries were good this year, but we waited a little too long, and managed only to get one ice cream pail full. Also picked some wild pincherries and made some jelly. Then we cleaned out the neighbors' raspberry patch while they were away on vacation and Phyl made three batches of jam. So the larder will be full again this year. No tomatoes ripe yet, but tons hanging on the branches. There will also be some cucumbers. With food prices soaring we're just glad we have some of our own to put away.
All is well otherwise. The days are quieter now that the wedding and reunion are overwith and the interior renovations are finished......???? Phyl always has another one up her sleeve, but is cooling it while the carpenter is himself under construction.
Our best to all. Keep in touch.
Lew and Phyl
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